[en] We discuss the status of ultraviolet knowledge of Solar System objects. We begin with a short historical survey, followed by a review of knowledge gathered so far and of existing observational assets. The survey indicates that UV observations, along with data collected in other spectral bands, are necessary and in some cases essential to understand the nature of our neighbors in the Solar System. By extension, similar observations are needed to explore the nature of extrasolar planets, to support or reject astro-biology arguments, and to compose and test scenarios for the formation and evolution of planetary systems. We propose a set of observations, describing first the necessary instrumental capabilitites to collect these and outlining what would be the expected scientific return. We identify two immediate programmatic requirements: the establishment of a mineralogic database in the ultraviolet for the characterization of planetary, ring, satellite, and minor planet surfaces, and the development and deployment of small orbital solar radiation monitors. The first would extend the methods of characterizing surfaces of atmosphere-less bodies by adding the UV segment. The latter are needed to establish a baseline against which contemporaneous UV observations of Solar System objects must be compared. We identify two types of UV missions, one appropriate for a two-meter-class telescope using almost off-the-shelf technology that could be launched in the next few years, and another for a much larger (5--20 meter class) instrument that would provide the logical follow-up after a decade of utilizing the smaller facility.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Brosch, Noah; The School of Physics and Astronomy, Beverly and Raymond Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University
Davies, John; UKATC, Royal Observatory
Festou, Michel C; Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées
Gérard, Jean-Claude ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Language :
English
Title :
A View to the Future: Ultraviolet Studies of the Solar System
Publication date :
01 June 2006
Journal title :
Astrophysics and Space Science
ISSN :
0004-640X
eISSN :
1572-946X
Publisher :
Springer Science & Business Media B.V., Dordrecht, Netherlands
scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Read more
Save & Close
Accept all
Decline all
Show detailsHide details
Cookie declaration
About cookies
Strictly necessary
Performance
Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.
This cookie is used by Cookie-Script.com service to remember visitor cookie consent preferences. It is necessary for Cookie-Script.com cookie banner to work properly.
Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor.
Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. Websites use cookies to help users navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. Cookies that are required for the website to operate properly are allowed to be set without your permission. All other cookies need to be approved before they can be set in the browser.
You can change your consent to cookie usage at any time on our Privacy Policy page.